You Can't Have Your Kayak and Heat It Too

Columbia Glacier Ice Field

So Mrs. Phred wants to Kayak around a glacial ice field. It's a two hour boat ride to the ice field from Valdez, Alaska. After an hour, we pass Bligh Island, where young Bligh and Captain Cook looked for a Northwest passage.


Bligh Island is where the Exxon Valdez hit the reef. They spent $20 billion on cleanup and recovered 11 percent of the spill. Exxon lost the lawsuit over the cleanup costs 20 years ago, but the case is still on appeal.

We see more Orcas hunting seals and salmon and finally I get an acceptable picture. Usually the delay between pusing the button and opening the lens puts them back underwater for the picture.

The bergs from the bottom of the glacier are brilliant blue. The ones from the top are so dirty gray that we mistake them for rocks. The only bad thing that happened is that one of the kayaks caught fire and sank. I guess the old saying, "you can't have your kayak and heat it too." is still true. Here's a funny video of the kayak in the bergs.

As we kayak though the icebergs, several seals pop up to take a look at us. Today my arms are sore, but Mrs. Phred is happy.